Corky Romano

Enjoying a movie has a lot to do with one's frame of mind while
watching the film. I've enjoyed what I consider the worst films I've
seen simply because I can laugh at them (though this requires a shift
from the subject matter that is the focus of the movie to a humourous
mind frame). Knowing about a movie in advance prepares me for the
frame of the mind I need to be in, and to me, the movie is a failure
only if fails to be colinear with my mood (this doesn't mean I don't
enjoy it).

Corky Romano is a movie that requires a particular
mind set walking into it, but once you have that, it definitely won't
disappoint. Chris Kattan plays Corky, the youngest in the Romano
organised family, which is under investigation by the FBI. Considering
that there might be an FBI informant within the Romano organisation,
the family elder Pops Romano (Peter Falk) sends Corky to infiltrate
the FBI and retrieve the evidence against him.

The problem (for the Romano family and the FBI) is that Corky is
incredibly clumsy and inept, and loves 80s music to boot. (Of course,
this is the plot device by which the movie achieves laughs.) Yet he
manages to fumble and bumble his way through the FBI and come out
smelling like roses.

I found the movie funny at times, not because the gags themselves
were good, but watching Kattan executing the gags was hilarious at
times (he really tries hard). There's little more here than the string
of gags that lets Kattan release his nervous energy physical, but I
think it's enough to make the film worth watching, at least on video.

As I watched the film, I realised I was one of the few people who
probably didn't belong to the target audience (quite far from it, in
fact). More importantly, I realised that people who were rolling in
laughter were probably those who enjoy raw physical slapstick low-brow
comedy (like the scene where Corky gets high on coke and lectures to
school kids).

Of course, I expect a movie like this to be skewered by critics,
but the theatre where I saw it was packed and most people appeared to
enjoy it. It's been a long time since I've seen a really stupid movie
and Corky Romano doesn't disappoint in this regard. As I
say, it's all about being in the right frame of mind.